R2: [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-0 [15] Nadine Shahin (EGY) 11-5, 11-3, 11-1 (21m)
Oh boy. I was hoping for Nadine that she would improve her record against the Lethal American Weapon, but none of that today. Nadine was not given the chance to breathe, let alone find a way to threaten Amanda today.
It’s not that Nadine didn’t try. Her game plan was to play at a fast pace and hit very hard to take some time away from Amanda. But it backfired, and she lost her accuracy, and made a lot, and I mean really too many errors to put the American under pressure.
The score is “sans appel”, very clinical really, 8m, 6m, 5m, 5, 3, 1, Nadine scoring less points than she did last time they played in Texas (16 points then in 22m), and won’t be happy with her performance today, while Amanda is now in the quarters, having spent 50m on court…
Oh and one more thing, Amanda, not a single error the whole match. Not giving anything away cheap today either was she…
Amanda
It felt good, finally! I think I have been waiting for a good performance for a while and just getting that win in the first round eased my nerves a little bit. That combined with the fact I am playing after noon, a little bit later, it helped me feel a bit more relaxed and in control. I am pretty happy with my performance. Technically, I felt my shots were working a lot better and also mentally, I felt a lot more dialled in.
I am a morning person but playing a match before noon, is a bit much, especially as.. I don’t want to say that I am old, but I am on the way up into the older generation. I am no spring chicken anymore, the body is like a diesel engine to get going. I prefer a match that is later in the afternoon.
Sabrina plays Nour El Sherbini, the top seed so there is no pressure on her. She had a fantastic win, I was screaming from my hotel room watching it because I was so excited that she got that top ten win. I truly believe that her ranking does not affect her playing ability. She chopped me up in practice last week so the fact she beat Salma last round made me feel a little better. Its not just me, it wasn’t my performance, she is just really good! The main thing is just to see if she can recover physically because it was a brutal match.
